The Hindu Lit for Life 2026 | Here’s what you can look forward to

Booker Prize winners, parliamentarians, doctors, judges, journalists, artists, a chess master, chefs et al will descend on Chennai for the The Hindu Lit for Life, on January 17-18. Readers will get a chance to dip into the minds of these personalities as they discuss issues of contemporary relevance, from democracy, human rights, justice and equality to health, history, economy and the media.

Former Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud will begin proceedings on Day 1 with a talk about his latest book, Why the Constitution Matters: Selected Speeches, with N. Ravi, Director, Kasturi and Sons Limited. Justice Chandrachud writes in the Introduction that the Constitution, in its original design, anticipated debate, contestation and growth. He hopes that the speeches in the book prompt readers to reflect and understand that “our democracy, like our Constitution, remains a living, striving work in progress”.

If the former CJI is likely to delve on the transformative power of the Constitution, author and diplomat Gopalkrishna Gandhi will take readers through a personal history of India post Independence. In a conversation with publisher David Davidar, Gandhi will talk about his book, The Undying Light, which has two questions at its heart: “Is independent India impossibly fragmented or indissolubly united?”

Author and historian Manu S. Pillai (far left) at the The Hindu Lit for Life Dialogue 2025 in Hyderabad, December 2025, in the run-up to this year’s event.
| Photo Credit:
Siddhant Thakur

There’s something for every reader at the festival. A philosophy enthusiast? Listen to A.C. Grayling and Chandan Gowda. Interested in social justice? Historian A.R. Venkatachalapathy will discuss ‘Periyar: Icon and Iconoclast’ with journalist Kavitha Muralidharan. Concerned about the media? Turn to journalist-writers Pankaj Mishra (The World After Gaza) and Samanth Subramaniam (The Web Beneath the Waves) who will be in conversation with N. Ram, director of The Hindu Publishing Group and former editor-in-chief of The Hindu.

Wondering what are the headwinds of the Indian economy in 2026 and beyond? Economist and former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian and political scientist Devesh Kapur will talk about ‘India’s Path to Development’ with economist and writer Narendar Pani.

Literature in translation

While Japanese author Satoshi Yagisawa will be in attendance to discuss the phenomenal success of his novel Days and Nights at the Morisaki Bookshop, International Booker Prize-winning duo, author Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi, will talk about their experience of a phenomenal victory with Heart Lamp.

Kiran Desai’s new novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, has been on almost all best-books-of-2025 lists, besides being shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Readers can find out more about her writing process in her conversation with Nirmala Lakshman, Chairperson, The Hindu Group, and Festival Director, The Hindu Lit for Life.

(Clockwise from top left) Author C.S. Chellappa, a page from the graphic novel Vaadivaasal, author Perumal Murugan, graphic artist Appupen and Vaadivaasal.

Graphic novelist Appupen and Tamil writer Perumal Murugan will be in conversation with Ramya Kannan, Chief of Bureau-Tamil Nadu, The Hindu. Last year, Appupen and Murugan reimagined C.S. Chellappa’s Vaadivaasal, which captures the ethos of jallikattu, as a graphic novel. French novelist Neige Sinno, whose disturbing memoir Sad Tiger is now out in English translation, will elaborate on sexual abuse and violence against women at home.

If 2025 was a year of biographies, two writers — Aparajith Ramnath, who won last year’s NIF Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Non-Fiction Prize for profiling M. Visvesvaraya, one of India’s foremost civil engineers, and Priyambada Jayakumar, who wrote about M.S. Swaminathan, father of the green revolution, will talk to festival enthusiasts more about these icons who helped build modern India.

Shashi Tharoor, prolific writer and parliamentarian, has just written a book on Kerala social reformer Narayana Guru, and he will talk about his life, teachings and legacy with L.V. Navaneeth, CEO, The Hindu Group. In another session, author and columnist Shobhaa De will talk to Rosella Stephen, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu, about her new book, The Sensual Self: Explorations of Love, Sex & Romance, a guide to sensuality and intimacy.

Author and columnist Shobhaa De
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images

Ozempic, chess and more

Well-known endocrinologist Dr. Ambrish Mithal’s new book, written with Shivam Vij, The Weight Loss Revolution, arrived just prior to India launching the weight-loss drug Ozempic for diabetics. Dr. Mithal has always cautioned that drugs like Ozempic must be taken under supervision of experts. Vij’s use of Ozempic was under Dr. Mithal’s supervision and they will speak about that journey.

At a session on the Northeast, often overlooked in mainland discourse, writers Janice Pariat and Jim Wungramyao Kasom will talk to Aienla Ozukum, publishing director at Aleph Book Company.

In recent years, Indian chess has seen a phenomenal rise, and Grandmaster Vishwananthan Anand who has played a stellar role in the game’s meteoric ascent, will elaborate on the Anand effect, and what lies ahead in a conversation with The Hindu’s Sports Editor, K.C. Vijaya Kumar.

At a session irreverently titled ‘The New Laws of Manu’, author Manu Joseph will hold forth on his latest book, Why The Poor Don’t Kill Us, a biting commentary on contemporary Indian society.

Workshops

A host of interesting workshops will be conducted over the two days of the festival, including one on early Tamil epigraphy with a focus on Tamil Brahmi and Vattelluttu scripts. Fitness coaches will hold sessions on how to nourish the body, mind and spirit; and wealth experts will explain how to manage one’s money. There are also workshops on how to create a play, and understanding one’s worth in the time of AI.

A documentary on Tamil Nadu’s wildlife and biodiversity, directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker and photographer Kalyan Varma, will also be screened at the festival. There will also be an illustrated lecture on how the iconography of the lotus has changed over the years.

sudipta.datta@thehindu.co.in

Click here to register for The Hindu Lit for Life 2026.

Published – January 09, 2026 06:05 am IST